Co-op Chaos
As a customer of the bank, I don't approve of these financial donations to Labour politicians and soft loans to the Labour Party.
So I hope the inquiry that the Government has promised will shine a light on what has been going on - and how such a preposterous hypocrite as Rev Flowers was able to land himself such an influential position, which I suspect is down to his political connections.
I also plan to write a letter of complaint to the Co-op because I won't remain a customer if the bank continues to meddle in party politics in this pathetic and one-sided way.
If I wanted to give a donation to the Labour Party or any other party for that matter, I would make it myself - I neither need nor want the Co-op Bank to do this on my behalf.
Give me the Mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, anytime because while he's behaved very badly at least Ford has been brave enough to face his critics and he appears to have harmed only himself with his antics - as opposed to hypocrisy we've witnessed from Reverend Flowers.
Labour under fire over chaos at Co-op
Paul Flowers has said he ’did things that were stupid and wrong’ PA
By Dominic Kennedy Investigations Editor
Police search home of former Co-op chairman
The Labour Party was under pressure last night over why it failed to raise the alarm about the Co-operative Bank chairman Paul Flowers when he was forced out of a council for having pornography on his laptop.
Grant Shapps, the Conservative chairman, wrote to Ed Miliband asking what the party hierarchy knew about the Methodist minister’s increasingly erratic behaviour.
Tory MPs suggested Labour politicians covered up for Mr Flowers because he was providing gifts and loans for the party.
Police are investigating the clergyman after he was filmed by a Sunday newspaper buying £300 worth of crack cocaine and ketamine, a horse tranquiliser used as a party drug.
Officers have searched his home, West Yorkshire Police said today. “Officers executed a search warrant at an address in Hollingwood Lane, Great Horton, (Bradford) yesterday as part of an investigation into alleged drugs offences arising from a national Sunday newspaper story,” a spokesman said.
In other developments yesterday:
- Len Wardle, the Chairman of the Co-Operative Group, and a prominent supporter of Ed Balls, resigned taking the blame for appointing Mr Flowers as head of the bank.
- But Ursula Lidbetter, his replacement, was immediately accused of taking part in the same decision.
- It emerged that the one of the regulators who gave formal advice to Mr Flowers before he became head of the bank was later given a seat on the Co-Operative Bank’s board.
Questions emerged about the extent of Labour’s knowledge of Mr Flower’s eratic behaviour when Bradford council yesterday confirmed that he had resigned as a Labour councillor in September 2011 after “inappropriate but not illegal” adult content was discovered by IT staff on his work laptop. He was already chairman of the Co-op bank.
In November 2011 Mr Flowers was invited to join Mr Miliband at a dinner as a member of the Labour leader’s Business and Industry Advisory Board.
In March 2012, Mr Flowers personally took part in a decision by the Co-operative Group to give an unprecedented £50,000 gift to the office of Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor whose constituency is in the neighbouring city of Leeds. Mr Balls’ office said he never discussed the donation with Mr Flowers.
Brooks Newmark, a Conservative member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: “The toxic element of a great ethical institution like the Co-operative is the way the Labour Party has effectively infiltrated it and infected it because of the benefits they have been receiving from it. The only way the Labour Party could get a loan if it didn’t have the Co-operative Bank is from Wonga.”
He said Labour knew about Mr Flowers’ inappropriate behaviour “but remained silent on it because he played an important role as a key individual in giving the money to Labour MPs like Mr Balls.”
Mr Flowers issued an apology on Sunday claiming he “did things that were stupid and wrong” at the lowest point of this year following the death of his mother and the pressures at the bank, which almost collapsed under his leadership. However, the emergence of the council wrongdoing two years ago suggests he has long been going off the rails.
Mr Shapps wrote to Mr Miliband last night saying the latest revelations about Mr Flowers “have shocked and appalled the public.” He demanded to know whether Mr Balls knew of the councillor’s pornography shame before accepting the £50,000.
Mr Balls’ office last night said that the Shadow Chancellor had been unaware of the laptop incident. His office added: “Ed has never discussed the donation with Paul Flowers and, as far as Ed was aware, he had no involvement in it at all. Of course Ed’s been to a few events which Paul Flowers has also been at, but he’s never had a meeting or phone conversation with him.”
Ursula Lidbetter, the Co-Operative group’s deputy chairman, who will lead the organisation through a review of its governance said On The World At One, she described the stories about Mr Flowers as shocking.
It also emerged that Graeme Hardie, the Financial Services Authority adviser who had an informal regulatory discussion with Mr Flowers before he took over as chairman of the bank, was later given a seat on its board. Regulatory sources said this breached no rules.
The Terrence Higgins Trust yesterday removed references to Mr Flowers from its website after newspapers published accounts of his drug-fuelled group-sex encounters with rentboys. He has resigned as a trustee of the HIV/Aids charity.
dkennedy@thetimes.co.uk
And here's a handy guide to the Reverend Flower's recent career highlights courtesy of the BBC
Police search home of former Co-op chairman
The Labour Party was under pressure last night over why it failed to raise the alarm about the Co-operative Bank chairman Paul Flowers when he was forced out of a council for having pornography on his laptop.
Grant Shapps, the Conservative chairman, wrote to Ed Miliband asking what the party hierarchy knew about the Methodist minister’s increasingly erratic behaviour.
Tory MPs suggested Labour politicians covered up for Mr Flowers because he was providing gifts and loans for the party.
Police are investigating the clergyman after he was filmed by a Sunday newspaper buying £300 worth of crack cocaine and ketamine, a horse tranquiliser used as a party drug.
Officers have searched his home, West Yorkshire Police said today. “Officers executed a search warrant at an address in Hollingwood Lane, Great Horton, (Bradford) yesterday as part of an investigation into alleged drugs offences arising from a national Sunday newspaper story,” a spokesman said.
In other developments yesterday:
- Len Wardle, the Chairman of the Co-Operative Group, and a prominent supporter of Ed Balls, resigned taking the blame for appointing Mr Flowers as head of the bank.
- But Ursula Lidbetter, his replacement, was immediately accused of taking part in the same decision.
- It emerged that the one of the regulators who gave formal advice to Mr Flowers before he became head of the bank was later given a seat on the Co-Operative Bank’s board.
Questions emerged about the extent of Labour’s knowledge of Mr Flower’s eratic behaviour when Bradford council yesterday confirmed that he had resigned as a Labour councillor in September 2011 after “inappropriate but not illegal” adult content was discovered by IT staff on his work laptop. He was already chairman of the Co-op bank.
In November 2011 Mr Flowers was invited to join Mr Miliband at a dinner as a member of the Labour leader’s Business and Industry Advisory Board.
In March 2012, Mr Flowers personally took part in a decision by the Co-operative Group to give an unprecedented £50,000 gift to the office of Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor whose constituency is in the neighbouring city of Leeds. Mr Balls’ office said he never discussed the donation with Mr Flowers.
Brooks Newmark, a Conservative member of the Treasury Select Committee, said: “The toxic element of a great ethical institution like the Co-operative is the way the Labour Party has effectively infiltrated it and infected it because of the benefits they have been receiving from it. The only way the Labour Party could get a loan if it didn’t have the Co-operative Bank is from Wonga.”
He said Labour knew about Mr Flowers’ inappropriate behaviour “but remained silent on it because he played an important role as a key individual in giving the money to Labour MPs like Mr Balls.”
Mr Flowers issued an apology on Sunday claiming he “did things that were stupid and wrong” at the lowest point of this year following the death of his mother and the pressures at the bank, which almost collapsed under his leadership. However, the emergence of the council wrongdoing two years ago suggests he has long been going off the rails.
Mr Shapps wrote to Mr Miliband last night saying the latest revelations about Mr Flowers “have shocked and appalled the public.” He demanded to know whether Mr Balls knew of the councillor’s pornography shame before accepting the £50,000.
Mr Balls’ office last night said that the Shadow Chancellor had been unaware of the laptop incident. His office added: “Ed has never discussed the donation with Paul Flowers and, as far as Ed was aware, he had no involvement in it at all. Of course Ed’s been to a few events which Paul Flowers has also been at, but he’s never had a meeting or phone conversation with him.”
Ursula Lidbetter, the Co-Operative group’s deputy chairman, who will lead the organisation through a review of its governance said On The World At One, she described the stories about Mr Flowers as shocking.
It also emerged that Graeme Hardie, the Financial Services Authority adviser who had an informal regulatory discussion with Mr Flowers before he took over as chairman of the bank, was later given a seat on its board. Regulatory sources said this breached no rules.
The Terrence Higgins Trust yesterday removed references to Mr Flowers from its website after newspapers published accounts of his drug-fuelled group-sex encounters with rentboys. He has resigned as a trustee of the HIV/Aids charity.
dkennedy@thetimes.co.uk
And here's a handy guide to the Reverend Flower's recent career highlights courtesy of the BBC
Career of Paul Flowers
- 1976: Starts as Methodist minister in Bradford
- 1988-92: Labour councillor on Rochdale Council
- 2002-11: Labour councillor on Bradford Council
- 2009: Joins board of Co-op Bank and Co-op Group
- 2010: Appointed chairman of Co-op Bank and deputy chairman of Co-op Group in April. Appointed by Labour leader Ed Miliband to the party's finance and industry board
- 2013: Steps down as chairman of Co-op Bank and as deputy chairman of Co-op Group in June
- 6 November: Appears before MPs on Treasury Select Committee
- 17 November: Mail on Sunday publishes footage showing Mr Flowers allegedly buying illegal drugs. He apologises and says he is seeking help
- 18 November: Suspended by Labour and his Bradford church
- 19 November: Co-op Group chairman Len Wardle resigns amid the scandal
Sources: Bradford Council, Rochdale Council, Co-op Bank, Co-op Group
